1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for predicting power consumption of a refrigerator having a defrosting heater, and more particularly, to a power consumption predicting method for shortening a test time necessary for predicting power consumption of a refrigerator having a defrosting heater, and a power consumption predicting apparatus adopting the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A refrigerator maker should test power consumption of a refrigerator according to test conditions and methods stipulated by Korean Standard (KS) Power Consumption Test Regulations (hereinafter, "KS Regulations"), and display an amount of power consumption (watthour) calculated on the refrigerator.
According to current KS Power Consumption Test Regulations, power consumption of a refrigerator shall be measured under certain conditions after the refrigerator is activated under a standard condition (30.+-.1.degree. C.) in respect of an amount of power consumption, standard temperatures predetermined for a cooler chamber aid a freezer chamber, and humidity thereof, and then reaches a stable state. Here, a measuring unit is KWh (kilowatthour). In a refrigerator having an automatic defrosting function, a power consumption measuring test should start at the same time when a forced defrosting operation is performed, and continue for 24 hours. However, where a forced defrosting operation is not available, the power consumption measuring test starts at the time when an automatic defrosting operation commences, and continues for 24 hours. In particular, where an automatic defrosting operation is not finished within 24 hours but within 48 hours, power consumption for 48 hours is measured. Also, in the case that an automatic defrosting operation is not finished within 48 hours, power consumption for 72 hours is measured. The measured power consumption is calculated down to the third decimal point, and is then multiplied by a predetermined constant, to calculate a monthly or a yearly power consumption quantity.
Meanwhile, a refrigerator maker for manufacturing refrigerators for sale in U.S.A. should test power consumption thereof according to test conditions and methods stipulated by the U.S. Energy Standard Test Regulations (hereinafter, "US Regulations"), and display a power consumption quantity (watthour) calculated on the refrigerator.
Under the US Regulations, temperature control buttons in a freezer chamber and a cooler chamber are first set Low modes among High, Medium and Low modes in a refrigerator. After the refrigerator reaches a stable state, operation time of a compressor is measured in order to actually measure a defrosting timer cycle and predetermined values. Here, the defrosting timer cycle is a cumulative value of the compressor operation time, in which if the compressor is activated during the defrosting timer cycle or more, a defrosting heater is activated to remove frost built up on the evaporator. The reason why the defrosting timer cycle is actually measured is because a power consumption calculation equation varies according to whether or not the actually measured defrosting timer cycle is 14 hours or longer. Thus, when a compressure running ratio is generally 40-50%, the refrigerator should be activated for at least 28 hours or longer, to then be tested. In this case, if the temperatures of the cooler chamber and the freezer chamber are not predetermined values or less, respectively, the temperature control buttons of the cooler chamber and the freezer chamber are selected and set Medium modes among High, Medium and Low modes, and then predetermined values are actually measured, to then calculate power consumption according to relevant power consumption calculation equation.
A refrigerator maker who desires to sell new products in the Republic of Korea should measure actual power consumption of each refrigerator for at least 24 hours up to 72 hours at maximum. Also, a refrigerator maker who desires to sell new products in U.S.A., should perform a long-time test in order to actually measure a defrosting timer cycle, under which the test is performed for at least 12 hours up to 32 hours, if a compressor running ratio is 50% when the defrosting timer cycle is set 6 hours up to 64 hours. As a result, labor and material resources are considerably consumed. Also, as it takes a long time to perform a power consumption measurement test, exportation of the products to foreign countries would be delayed in contrast to the trend in which the life cycle of a product becomes shorter and shorter, and the refrigerator maker would fail in the marketing.